Yesterday we fished an area about the size of a football field. 7-12 ft. depth, weedy bottom. Weather was very overcast, drizzly. We caught several fish and had more hits and misses. Went thru the same area later in the day and came up with zip. The only difference was by then the sun had come out. I'm assuming the sun had spooked the fish and turned them off. However I'm wondering if in a 3 hr span, could all the fish have vacated that area? Do bass ( LM) move that much in a short time span?

                                                         Thanks

                                                                    Jim

Jim, 

Think that is the norm this Summer as the same things is happening here. Very reliable spots are on, then off hours later. The following day the hours are reversed. Hard to say if it is movement or going quiet. 

The one thing we are noticing is that the average fish seams to be bigger in normally down times.  

Bass do roam but I would surmise that your fish just got tighter to cover and had a more specific location regarding shade.

You can only catch so many bass in one area before the rest of them stop biting. Some will move as the weather changes, but typically LM stick to certain areas for the season. They move between those areas, so you just have to learn what those are and search them. 

The bite moves...the fish don't!

 

Active vs non active  ?

The bass probably didn't move,they just quit biting. I fished a small 1 acre pond the other day. I caught 1 bass the first hour and 15 minutes I was there,then all of a sudden they started biting like crazy and i caught 11 more in 45 minutes, I was throwing nothing but a jig and craw the whole time ,so lure selection had nothing to do with it. 

2 minutes ago, Catt said:

The bite moves...the fish don't!

 

Active vs non active  ?

^^^this^^^

Tom

2 hours ago, NHBull said:

Jim, 

Think that is the norm this Summer as the same things is happening here. Very reliable spots are on, then off hours later. The following day the hours are reversed. Hard to say if it is movement or going quiet. 

The one thing we are noticing is that the average fish seams to be bigger in normally down times.  

Ya, it's been a strange summer for sure.

Thanks for the input everyone

I know for hybrids if they see the same bait for a while they will turn off. If I know they’re there I’ll switch up and stay on the same spot. 

If things get real tough you could always go with a cane pole and night crawler...?

With that much water (depth-wise) I doubt they moved too much.  They simply stopped biting (or you found and caught the active feeders).  During the summer they tend to move up and down the water column more than to entirely new locations.  

10 hours ago, jbmaine said:

Yesterday we fished an area about the size of a football field. 7-12 ft. depth, weedy bottom. Weather was very overcast, drizzly. We caught several fish and had more hits and misses. Went thru the same area later in the day and came up with zip. The only difference was by then the sun had come out. I'm assuming the sun had spooked the fish and turned them off. However I'm wondering if in a 3 hr span, could all the fish have vacated that area? Do bass ( LM) move that much in a short time span?

                                                         Thanks

                                                                    Jim

Yes and yes...a cruising bass could easily cover that distance in just a couple minutes. Probably have some residents that just hunker down and other cruisers/packs that make sorties across such flats regularly in search of food, especially in summer when home ranges are near their largest.